Travel writer Gary Frink documents his 42-day sea journey along Africa's west coast as a passenger aboard the

Repubblica di Genova - a cargo ship. If you're seeking the unorthodox, give this a look. If surfing the high seas on a cargo vessel doesn't sound like your cup of tea, Gary's blog is still entertaining:Gary's Travel Blog

Originally posted by Cav113:
Travel writer Gary Frink documents his 42-day sea journey along Africa's west coast as a passenger aboard the

Repubblica di Genova - a cargo ship. If you're seeking the unorthodox, give this a look.

hey cav, I've been looking into that stuff lately myself, I was quite disappointed by what I found, actually. It seems those cargo ship cruises should be a lot cheaper, yet, to go across the Atlantic from Montreal, Canada to Liverpool, UK is 1300 USD when taxes, port fees, etc are all factored in.

On cruisecheap.com, I see I can get an inside stateroom for just myself for 998 USD. Including port charges it's probably the same as the cargo ship.

So, I have to say, given that the cargo ship has fewer amenities, and takes longer than the cruise ship, yet is the same price -- more expensive than flying -- I have to say I would take the cruise ship.

I'm still researching whether I should take a cruise or simply fly for my future Eurotrip...this is a few years away anyway, I want to go back to college and complete a degree first before I look at playing around with world travel.

but see, being a former submariner, all I really need is a rack with the enlisted men and a place to lock up the stuff in my seabag, and I'm good. On a submarine you only have 18 inches of space between you and the next rack, and that's all the private space you get. As far as storage, your rack pulls up to reveal an empty shelf about 5 inches high (and 6 feet long, the whole length of the rack), and you also have a locker that is about 12 cubic inches, and that's it.

If I could get a ride on a cargo ship with just a rack and a place to lock up my stuff for the same price as flying, I'd be all set. btw here's a picture of a bunkroom on a USN Trident submarine, such as the one I was on, showing the racks (beds) that enlisted men sleep in (the lockers can be seen on the right)

oh yeah, replying to myself here, one more thing about that pic link I posted, normally the lights would be off because other guys would be asleep, when you're underway. Plus we don't wear the uniform in that picture underway, we wear "poopy suits", which is the blue uniform seen in the movie Crimson Tide. Unlike in that movie, though, the officers wear the poopy suits too. You need a uniform you can just throw on in a second or so because emergencies and operations happen often while one is in the rack... hence very little sleep on a navy submarine...

(btw I say "guys" because in the USN, females are not allowed on submarine crews. I think it's ***ist myself...they have females on Australian submarines. An officer would tell you that it's because of the tight quarters, fear of ***ual misconduct, etc., but I think it's just ***ism...)

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--Brian, Former USN submarine sonar tech (not speaking for the USN or the United States of America)